national/act government

Categories under national/act government

honeymoon (4)

NACT policy – like pistons in a Vespa

Written By: lprent - Date published: 5:17 pm, May 8th, 2009 - 18 comments

Jeanette Fitzsimmons has written a very good post from the Emissions Trading Scheme special select committee* about her views on the impact of farming on our Kyoto obligations. She commented on the Federated Farmers submission which essentially said that they thought farming should be excluded from paying anything. That really isn’t feasible in NZ because… […]

School support staff fighting for a fair deal

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 8:35 am, May 7th, 2009 - 13 comments

Cut public spending then we can have tax cuts! It’s such a nice, appealing slogan when you say it fast without engaging the brain. The reality though is real people who spend their lives working for the greater good are losing their jobs and seeing their incomes fall, and the services they produce will suffer […]

Suspending the Cullen Fund

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 8:00 am, May 5th, 2009 - 47 comments

Bill English seems set to suspend the government’s contributions to the Cullen Fund. Here’s a little-known fact, one that Bill English probably doesn’t want you to know: The Cullen Fund made money in March, the sharemarkets are rising and we’re making money on that. In fact, the Cullen Fund out-performed the market. The markets might […]

Quarterly Employment Survey

Written By: Tane - Date published: 2:00 pm, May 4th, 2009 - 27 comments

The Quarterly Employment Survey out today shows that 46,700 jobs disappeared between December and March. That’s 2.6% of jobs gone in a single quarter. Unemployment is probably well over 6%, we’ll find out exactly what it is later this week. 47,000 jobs lost while the government has done next to nothing to create and save […]

The republic can wait

Written By: Tane - Date published: 10:00 am, May 2nd, 2009 - 26 comments

No Right Turn highlights Thursday’s Herald editorial calling for our political leaders to step up and take some leadership in the republic debate. The Herald argues: If republican sentiment is to blossom, it needs to be galvanised from above. Such a process, done well, would lead to a seeping into the national consciousness of the […]

Say goodbye to Nanny State

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 8:00 am, May 2nd, 2009 - 14 comments

Stepfather State’s taken over. Our new parent likes to keep his distance…he usually comes home after work at the office…but only for a quick bite to eat…he ignores the kids, yells at the Mrs and kicks the dog on the way out to the club to meet his business mates for a few bevvies…most nights […]

The real hustle

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 8:42 am, May 1st, 2009 - 30 comments

National introduced legislation yesterday that will create a 10% bonus for voluntary repayments of student loans. Repay $1,000 above your compulsory repayments, get $1,100 taken off your loan. Sounds like a good deal. Well, not for people who can’t afford to make voluntary repayments but it’s great for the well-off eh? Actually, no. Unless your […]

Jarring

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 2:03 pm, April 29th, 2009 - 49 comments

Today Phil Goff’s question to Key is: “Does he agree with the statements in the House by his Minister of Finance on 16 December 2008 that ‘Yes, I can confirm that National will not be going back on any of those promises, as we fully costed and funded them’?” His angle is obviously going to […]

The Backlash Begins

Written By: Tane - Date published: 1:00 pm, April 28th, 2009 - 43 comments

We’ve been warning that John Key faces a backlash in Auckland if he doesn’t rein in Rodney Hide and present a democratic supercity structure instead of the rort that is on the table now. We’re starting to see it. A poll out yesterday shows only 12% of people in Key’s own electorate support his government’s […]

Another one bites the dust

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 10:34 am, April 28th, 2009 - 52 comments

And so another of John Key’s “big ideas” is shown to have been costed by monkeys. Treasury study suggests fibre plan will fall short: A study commissioned by the Treasury has warned it would cost between $5.3 billion and $10.4b to connect three-quarters of New Zealand homes with fibre-optic cable using the Government’s preferred active […]

Budget 2009: Why not tax the rich?

Written By: Tane - Date published: 2:00 pm, April 27th, 2009 - 56 comments

With the Government openly preparing the public for spending cuts in the upcoming Budget, No Right Turn reminds us that there are alternatives – rather than cutting services and harming the poor, we could always raise taxes on those who can most afford it. The state of New York is doing this, hiking state income […]

Don’t fear the reaper

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:05 pm, April 27th, 2009 - 20 comments

The Government’s response to the recession so far has been to curl up in a ball and hope it will go away. Incredibly, while the economy is shrinking, the Government is destimulating it further by cutting public services. The excuse they give is that if the Government doesn’t reduce its borrowing, the credit ratings agencies […]

National has blown it

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 2:22 pm, April 23rd, 2009 - 37 comments

National cannot be blamed for the current financial crisis and recession of course. But they can be blamed for their short sighted and inadequate response. Stuck in old ways of thinking (cut spending, cut jobs, sell stuff) they have done nothing to stimulate the economy. All their talk of extra spending turned out to be […]

Govt’s refusal to listen sparks protests

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 12:45 pm, April 23rd, 2009 - 9 comments

The government’s refusal to listen on its fast-tracked Supercity plans is already resulting in protests. The unrest that’s building should hardly come as a surprise. I can certainly understand Aucklanders not wanting to be dictated to by Wellington – especially when the outcome is ACT running their city. I’m still at a loss as to […]

Media finally getting it?

Written By: all_your_base - Date published: 12:18 pm, April 23rd, 2009 - 18 comments

On the impending job losses at the IRD, TVNZ reporter Catherine Loft ended her report with: “Anyone who once thought that they were safe working for our government really needs to think again”. I wonder how on earth they could have got that idea?

Aucklanders must have their referendum

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:07 am, April 22nd, 2009 - 27 comments

In 1999, Napier and Hastings had a referendum over whether their councils should merge. They voted against it. In 2005, there was a referendum on Banks Peninsula and Christchurch City merging. The people voted for it. The Royal Commission report says that the normal process for council mergers set by the Local Government Act (schedule […]

High quality government spending

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 8:29 am, April 21st, 2009 - 4 comments

I suppose the Herald means for us to recoil in horror at the headline “$325,000 bill to save 57 jobs” but I’m fine with it. Look at the alternative – 57 families taking a major hit to their incomes, with all the consequences for health, education, crime, and family stability that we know unemployment brings. Think […]

Johnny plays general

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 9:48 pm, April 20th, 2009 - 23 comments

This morning on Breakfast, Key said we’ll send in troops to Fiji as part of a multi-national force if need be. At the same time, McCully was on National Radio refusing to countenance any such deployment. Key also said we’ll send more people to Afghanistan if there’s an exit strategy. While McCully no decision would be made until a review […]

Transparency

Written By: Tane - Date published: 4:29 pm, April 20th, 2009 - 8 comments

The Government announced two nine day fortnights today. Interestingly, they’re refusing to tell us who one of them is. From the Government’s press release: Ms Bennett confirmed today that Oamaru-based Summit Wool Spinners and another manufacturing firm, which wishes to remain anonymous, had joined the scheme Now call me old-fashioned, but this strikes me as […]

Leaping into inaction

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 12:32 pm, April 20th, 2009 - 12 comments

Cycling is a great way to travel, so it’s great that the government is going to back more cycleways around the country to make the experience safer and more enjoyable for cycle tourists. But the new plan will only see a national network completed in “10-20” years time. That’s not going to help the recession […]

The fightback begins

Written By: lprent - Date published: 7:33 am, April 18th, 2009 - 22 comments

This morning I picked up the local newspaper out of the mailbox – Harbour News. On the front page was this extraordinary editorial – “Who stole our Voice“. The editor of the Harbour News tears Rodney Hide and the NACT government a new excretory orifice. This is what is coming from the ground up all […]

Wtf?

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 6:02 pm, April 17th, 2009 - 30 comments

A reader writes: $30 million for an expo pavillion? Sounds a bit steep. Why, John Key could could build you a cycleway 60% of the length of New Zealand for that price. Seriously though, Key’s going to spend 50% more on a pavillion than he’s prepared to spend on the 9-day fortnight scheme to save […]

What plan? Government incoherent

Written By: lprent - Date published: 12:30 pm, April 17th, 2009 - 39 comments

Peeking through the OECD policy brief there were some interesting issues when looking at the short-term economic issues over the next few years. As usual Granny Herald in their usual editorial policy of supporting NACT has it wrong. On their front page article they said… The economy is in for a long and deep recession, […]

So much for accountable government

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 9:13 am, April 17th, 2009 - 11 comments

Five months in office and ministers are already so aloof and out of touch that you can read things like this in the media almost without raising an eyebrow: The Government says it will listen to the wide range of concerns about its plans for a Super City in Auckland but whether it takes any notice is […]

Johnny’s next big idea

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:18 am, April 16th, 2009 - 13 comments

In two days, John Key will be bouncing from cloud to cloud on his way back home from China. With him on the plane will be a group of businessmen that Fran O’Sullivan (in shockingly bad taste) calls the ‘gang of seven’. These include: the guy who got a 93% pay increase to $3.1 million […]

NZ’s debt in perspective

Written By: Guest post - Date published: 3:00 pm, April 15th, 2009 - 8 comments

Remember when John Key used to say “New Zealand has a growth problem, not a debt problem”? He doesn’t say that anymore, which is a pity because we do have a growth problem, not a debt problem, but the Government is acting like we’ve got a debt problem that needs to be tackled first. Yes, […]

Out of her depth II

Written By: Tane - Date published: 12:45 pm, April 15th, 2009 - 29 comments

As if any more evidence was needed that National’s Paula Bennett is completely out of her depth as Minister of Social Development, it appears Work and Income is turning away the hungry while Paula can’t even get her lines straight: Despite a high court ruling in 2002 instructing WINZ to tell beneficiaries what their entitlements […]

As predicted

Written By: Eddie - Date published: 11:30 am, April 15th, 2009 - 8 comments

Last week, John Key was bouncing on a new cloud. The Australian Government had teamed up with banks to help stop homeowners defaulting on their mortgages. Key publicly mused that ‘his’ government could do the same here. We said it was only a matter of time until English quietly killed the idea. Sure enough: “The […]

Public service numbers

Written By: Tane - Date published: 5:17 pm, April 14th, 2009 - 44 comments

I’ve just stumbled across this killer graph from the PSA on public service numbers under Labour and National. It helpfully puts in graphical form what we’ve known all along – that for all the bleating we’ve heard from National and its sycophants about how Labour’s bloated public service was sucking the nation dry, the reality […]

Barbaric

Written By: Tane - Date published: 12:30 pm, April 14th, 2009 - 22 comments

Restaurant Association chairman Mike Egan on how to treat your staff during a recession: “if some of our employees cannot adapt fast enough we will drag them out of the cave and leave them to the sabre-tooth tigers and find staff who can and will adapt”. Most of the people he’s talking about are on […]

What comes around goes around

Written By: the sprout - Date published: 6:55 pm, April 11th, 2009 - 3 comments

It wasn’t so long ago that National’s covert attack organ, the Free Speech Coalition, were squealing about how anti-democratic the last Labour government was, with plenty of snappy billboards like this one. Well now that the tragedy of Fiji’s dictatorship is going from bad to worse, don’t expect to hear any more concern from the […]